Redemption
by routavaurio
Summary: The Pharaoh was the last person to forgive himself for his mistake. The one he had wronged was the first. The end of the Orichalcos arc from the Pharaoh's point of view.


**A reviewer called TkaiaWolf asked me if I could write a sort of companion piece to **_**Berserker Soul**_** that dealt with the reunion of Yugi and the spirit in the Orichalcos arc. I know this has been done before by better writers than me, so I tried to sort of make it a bit different. Well, I hope it's at least somewhat okay. At least it's angsty, if you like that sort of thing. Here's hoping it doesn't cross the line to wangsty at least too badly.**

* * *

**Redemption**

_Partner... I'm so sorry._

The words had kept repeating in his head like some sort of mantra. They had fallen on deaf ears, because there had been no one to listen to his desperate thoughts when Yugi's soul had been gone. It had been all his fault. Yugi had taken his place when he had messed up and lost his soul because the Pharaoh had been the biggest idiot in the entire universe. But now it was over. Dartz had been defeated, and that had released some of the souls fuelling Dartz's beast. Tiny orbs of light escaped their stony prisons, filling the ancient chamber like fireflies. Most of them spread out, escaped, found their way to their real bodies that rested somewhere out there. One of the orbs sunk into Seto Kaiba's chest. One revived Katsuya Jounouchi. But the Pharaoh only had eyes for one particular soul. The one that zipped away from the others, flying right to the Pharaoh and stopped to hover in front of his eyes. The Pharaoh's breath hitched.

_Partner..._

He would recognize his lost partner anywhere, in any form. He felt the warmth, the joy and the _life _that never stopped shining from the boy even when things fell apart around them. The Pharaoh didn't even realize he had outstretched his hands towards the light. It was either a warm welcome or a desperate plea from a broken man. In this case it was both.

_I found you. Thank the gods..._

The light brightened, just like Yugi did when he smiled, and slowly landed on the Pharaoh's hands. The Pharaoh pressed the soul against his chest, where its warmth hurt his own fractured heart, and let it sink inside. Yugi's soul immediately found its place. This was his real body, after all. The Pharaoh relinquished control, let himself float away and come crashing down into his soul room. It was gloomy, foreboding, much more so than usual. Silence filled the criss-crossing, mind-bending corridors and shadows clung to the corners like very sinister cobwebs. The Pharaoh didn't care. He allowed himself a small moment of just basking in the relief of Yugi being back safe and sound. He was so tired. Grief, regret, magic and just all that running around had exhausted him. If they had been in a safer place, he would have crashed down on the floor and sunk into a coma until he was feeling better. But he couldn't. He didn't deserve rest even if there had been time.

The Pharaoh felt a tug in his head when the mind link sparked back to life.

_Other Me?_

The Pharaoh gasped and turned. Yugi stood at the door of the Pharaoh's soul, eyes wide with a mix of emotions. Without a second though, the Pharaoh rushed to the boy, stopping a few steps before he actually reached him. There his second thought caught up with him, and he didn't know what to do from that point on. Yugi was really back, and he was fine. But he... it still didn't excuse what the Pharaoh had done.

"I'm sorry, Partner," the Pharaoh said, guilt pushing his head down, "I shouldn't have... I never... I have no excuse. I'm just... so, so sorry."

Yugi nodded. The Pharaoh realized the boy was actually smiling.

"It's alright," Yugi said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. The Pharaoh shook his head.

"No, it's not. I hurt..." his voice broke, "I hurt _you_."

His most important rule. _Yugi Mutou must not be hurt._ The one he had murdered others for breaking. He had broken it himself now, and no matter how hard he had suffered for it, it was no less than he deserved. But now there was Yugi, the one he had wronged, smiling and being happy of seeing him. Relief, forgiveness and love was radiating right into his soul and trying to bring it back from all the self-loathing and despair. It was almost too much. The Pharaoh turned his head away.

Slowly, sadly, Yugi's happiness faded.

"Other Me..."

"I think now it'd be best if you let our friends know that you are alright," the Pharaoh said wearily, without really looking back at his partner.

It wasn't a proper reunion. It was just yet another apology. One he didn't even want accepted.

* * *

It wasn't over after all. It had probably been foolish to think that just losing a card game would kill an ancient king bent on world destruction. Then again, that usually worked for them. But Dartz simply refused to give up. His beast, the Leviathan, had enough power to rise after all, even without the few souls they had scraped free with their victory. The beast was a massive shadow of a sea serpent, and it seemed unstoppable. It feasted on the darkness in people's souls, and it had had ten thousand years time to gather it. They had thrown everything they had at it, every monster they could just muster. But it had bested them. The Pharaoh was back in control, but only for the fight. He had the magic, and he was the one who needed to fight. He was the one Dartz wanted to take down, just like it had been from the start of this mess. And maybe, maybe he could be forgiven if he just fixed this.

Kaiba and Jounouchi were beside him, sending out monsters the Leviathan simply shrugged off. Suddenly the Leviathan lashed out in an almost annoyed manner, its shadowy body growing slimy tendrils that caught them all. In a few urgency-filled seconds they were sinking, being consumed by the Leviathan's body. It was cold, paralysing, but the Pharaoh struggled, fought with everything he had. Yugi's worry that sneaked into his mind just made him fight harder. He couldn't lose! Not again. This time he would certainly doom them all if he did. He reached up with his hand just when he saw Kaiba and Jounouchi disappearing into the Leviathan. He wasn't faring any better. There was nothing to grab onto, no one to pull him up. The shadow slime of the Leviathan closed in over his head, and he was drowning. He was thousands of feet underwater, and it was pressing him from all sides, trying to squeeze Yugi's body until it would break and both their souls would be left vulnerable for that one second before the beast absorbed them as well.

He couldn't breathe.

_Everyone... I'm sorry._

_Don't give up, Other Me! _Yugi shouted. His ghostly form reached out to the Pharaoh through the darkness. Just like he always had. Their hands brushed together, and the Pharaoh felt it for a second before the cold and darkness made him numb.

_Partner... I can't..._

_Yes, you can! We're not alone in here. Maybe we can make the others hear us! If we can call them back from the dark, they can help us fight._

The Pharaoh fought to keep Yugi's body from shutting down. He felt Yugi's spirit around him, giving him strength. It was almost like how things used to be. They supported each other through thick and thin. Just the two of them wouldn't be enough right now, though. Yugi was right. They needed help.

The Pharaoh concentrated, called out for everyone trapped in the numbing darkness with them. He reached out as far as he could and found dwindling souls trapped inside. The Leviathan had drawn out the darkness in them, anger, hate, doubt, greed, whatever it could find, and left the remaining goodness slowly wither in the midst of shadows. The Pharaoh pushed past the murky darkness towards them. He didn't fear the dark. He was a creature of it as well. But the others weren't. They didn't deserve this. They wanted... they _needed _to be free.

He called out to them, and they listened. Their souls pulsed weakly, and then tentatively reached out in the prison they had feared so much before. Weakening souls touched the Pharaoh's spirit. One wasn't much, but then again, the Leviathan had gathered souls for ten thousand years. Their combined response was enough to fight the pull the beast had of Yugi's body. The Pharaoh felt power and warmth flooding Yugi's limbs. He broke free. He fought back. This time with the monsters Dartz had tried to seal away from them what felt like an eternity ago. Ra, Obelisk and Osiris. Dartz may have his god-monster. But they had their own gods as well.

The Great Leviathan didn't stand a chance.

The Pharaoh's victory didn't erase what he had done, but maybe it made things a little better. He wasn't even sure whom he was apologizing to any more.

* * *

The Leviathan's remnants had concentrated into a mass of hatred. Yugi and the Pharaoh were alone against it, and this time there were no gods to save them. They were almost out of energy. The Leviathan was weak, but a weakened godlike being was still, well, a godlike being. The Pharaoh could feel the hate and suffering it had stored inside of it coat the air around him. Beside him, Yugi shivered. The Pharaoh didn't know if it was because of just fear or because of the cold as well. He was only a spirit again, so he couldn't really feel any shift in temperatures. He stepped in front of Yugi, shielding him from the beast. The Leviathan reared back, Dartz's face flickering in the beast's form. The Pharaoh steeled himself for what he was about to do. It was time to end this for good. He walked towards the beast, casting a warning look at Yugi to command the boy to stay back, and looked at the embodiment of darkness straight in the eyes – if those really were its eyes.

"That's enough," he said, "If you want to destroy the world, then you have to go through me! Go on! All your anger and hate, aim it at me! All the people's darkness in this world, let it rest on my shoulders!"

He spread his arms, and the Leviathan was more than happy to accept his challenge.

The Pharaoh had a rough idea of what it felt like to have his soul torn apart from the inside. He had been going through that in a more figurative sense after Yugi had been taken, and back before he had been released from the Puzzle, he had experienced it occasionally in a more literal manner. But any of that hadn't prepared him for what it felt like to have a being made of darkness and hate tearing through him. The Leviathan _shredded _its way into his soul, crushing every possible remnant of happiness in its wake. He knew it was only temporary – provided that he survived – but it didn't mean it was painless. Far from it. He screamed.

"Other Me!"

The forced his head to turn when Yugi screamed his name. The boy was running towards him. Why did Yugi _have _to try to save him again? Why couldn't Yugi hate him even a little bit? It would have been more than justified. Yugi shouldn't just keep forgiving people. Especially not _him. _He was always near. If he was allowed to slip too far, Yugi would be the first to suffer. Like when he had lost Yugi, when he had made the worst mistake in his remembered existence.

"STAY BACK, PARTNER!" the Pharaoh shouted back, making sure his tone left no room for protests or disobedience. Yugi stopped dead on his tracks, "This is my fight! I need to do this alone."

Yugi hesitated, but stayed where he was. His eyes were impossibly wide, filled with fear for the Pharaoh's safety. Sometimes it felt almost like Yugi was not capable of hate. That was the Pharaoh's last coherent thought before his world dissolved into even worse pain than before and he had to use all of his concentration just to keep his spirit from literally shattering into pieces under the hate. He was back underwater, where the Leviathan had rested for so long, but this time the water was murkier and hurt as if it was made of knives. He screamed again, or at least he thought he did even though he couldn't really hear anything except the rushing of water and the screams of hate and anger of the trapped souls. For a second, they almost broke him, made him one with the beast. He could have so easily been wiped out, like a sandcastle under the tide. But he wasn't. He couldn't allow himself to go. The world needed him. Yugi needed him.

_Partner, I'm sorry._

He struggled through the ocean of knives and broke through the surface for long enough to force the Great Leviathan into his mind. Instead of becoming part of the beast, he let it be absorbed into the maze of his mind. The hate filled the labyrinthine corridors of his soul and left it cold.

_I have to make things right again._

The Great Leviathan dissolved, merging with the soul of the Nameless Pharaoh. He guided the darkness into his memories where he let it fade into the depths and traps of his soul room. It should have driven him mad, but it didn't. He had dwelt in the dark long enough to know how to handle it.

He swayed on his feet. He may not have had actual physical form, but the exhaustion of the soul was just as bad as physical weariness. His knees failed him, and he fell.

Yugi caught him before his head hit the ground. The moment Yugi's hand brushed his shoulders, the darkness of the Leviathan faded away as if it had never been there.

"Are you okay?" Yugi asked almost frantically.

The Pharaoh opened his eyes. He was back from under the sea. The Leviathan was no more, and maybe he had managed to fix something.

"It's over now," the Pharaoh said in a faint voice.

And it really was. In more ways than one. And maybe he had finally suffered enough to let go.

* * *

The sea was peaceful that evening. It was an almost surreal contrast to the turmoil it had been in earlier, when the Leviathan had risen and fallen not too long after. The Pharaoh sat down on the shore, next to Yugi, and they could have their first moment of true peace after they had been reunited. The Pharaoh let out a deep sigh. He was almost too tired to speak, and even projecting himself in spirit form was tiring. But now it was needed. There were still things he felt needed to be said.

"It's okay now," Yugi said, "It's over."

He sounded almost disbelieving when he said that. The Pharaoh nodded slowly, staring at the ocean with barely seeing eyes. He was startled out of the emptiness when Yugi settled in front of him and put his hands on his shoulders. He looked the Pharaoh in the eyes, and there was no accusations or anger in the way he looked at him. It occurred to the Pharaoh that Yugi had probably forgiven him moments after he had made his mistake. And then it occurred to him that he had known it all along.

"Please, Other Me. Don't be so upset."

Even though he had known, he still felt like those millions of apologies were not enough. The Pharaoh grabbed Yugi's hands and pushed them off his shoulders, trying to ignore how comforting the touch had been.

"I'm not upset," he said, "I'm happy. I just don't think I deserve to be."

"You saved us all."

"But I-"

Yugi shook his head.

"You said you're sorry, and I forgave you. You should just accept it and we can move on. You've punished yourself more than enough."

For Yugi, things like this always seemed so simple. That was one of the reasons some idiots had thought the boy to be so weak, easy to bully and take advantage of. But that was also one of the reasons why Yugi was so unbelievably strong.

Maybe the Pharaoh needed to be stronger now as well. Strong enough to move on.

Yugi suddenly let out a sob and wrapped his arms around the Pharaoh. There were so many words but none could really come out. It was a good thing they didn't need to, really. Their minds had been merged once again. The Pharaoh trembled, hugging Yugi back, holding him as close as he could, almost fearing the boy would slip away if he let go.

"I missed you, Other Me," Yugi said.

The Pharaoh smiled at those words. For the first time after Yugi's soul had been taken he could really smile in a way that it really meant something. It reached his eyes as well and made them water.

"I missed you too."

Yugi's head was resting on his shoulder, and both of them were just as much seeking comfort as they were trying to give it. Their thoughts were still flowing almost frantically, as if trying to fill the days of silence in their mind link. The thoughts flooded the mind and washed the Leviathan-touched corridors of the Pharaoh's soul room clean. A fresh start. Fitting. He knew their bond would never be quite the same. Something that had been broken could almost never be put back together in the exact same way. That didn't mean it couldn't be even stronger than before.

"You know that I'd give up anything to keep you safe, don't you?" the Pharaoh whispered, "I never wanted..."

Yugi nodded vigorously against the Pharaoh's shoulder.

"I know."

It was the Pharaoh's last apology about the matter, and this time even he thought it was a bit excessive. It was a good time to finally stop.

"It's good to be back," Yugi sniffed.

The Pharaoh closed his eyes.

"Yes. It is."

* * *

**Author's Note: Uhh... not much to say about this. Again, used the Japanese, subbed episodes as reference and then used heavy artistic license with everything. I've been sick lately so I haven't been writing much. I may be a little rusty, maybe?**

**I'll be putting the next chapter for _Pieces _up soon. It just needs a little bit editing, in case somebody's waiting for that.**


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